Then and Now
by Kelekona8
Summary: A person from Angel’s past is, literally, dropped into Buffy’s life…but they have no memory of their past.
1. Prologue

This story starts off the summer between BtVS seasons 2 & 3. My twisted little mind is constantly coming up with new things, most of them AU's, of which this is, because they are just so much fun to see how I can twist things; most of the time it is insertion of a "new" character, to see what would happen. Anywho.

Summary: A person from Angel's past is, literally, dropped into Buffy's life…but they have no memory of their past.

Disclaimer: That's right…you guessed it…NOT FREAKING MINE! I just borrow them for fun, hee hee.

8

Buffy Summers tiredly shoved her key into the lock of the door and, letting herself in, revealed a tiny minimalistic apartment. She shut the door behind her and tossed her key on the counter, dropped her coat onto the bed, grabbed her PJ's from the drawers, and trudged into the bathroom. She glanced up in the mirror, she tended to avoid looking too closely at her reflection, because the face that looked back as so drawn and tired, and the eyes so haunted, almost dead. 'Sending the love of your life to hell does that,' she thought self-depreciatingly. And the months before that being tormented by the demon that existed just under the soul that she so loved. "Can't forget that," she muttered.

She showered away all the grime of the day, wishing it was that easy to remove the pain from her heart and soul. She dressed for bed, switched off the light, climbed in bed and settled in.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and Buffy saw a form appear out of the light and fall to the floor at the foot of her bed.

She climbed out of bed and cautiously approached the spot where the figure had fallen. Lying on the floor was a young woman a little younger than herself with long brunette, curly hair; naked.

Buffy stepped forward; jerking to a stop when the girl's eyes snapped open, revealing their deep brown.

The girl gave a cry and scurried over to a corner, tucking her knees up against her chest, her eyes darting frantically around the room.

Buffy slowly approached the brunette hands out in front of her to show that she meant her no harm. "Hey." Her voice was soft and gentle.

The girl's head snapped to her, her breathing still labored from fear.

"It's ok."

"Who-who are y-you!" She looked around the room frantically. "Where am I!"

Buffy was finally in front of her and knelt down; she reached out to the mystery girl, who flinched back. "It's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you." The girl watched her warily. "My name is Buffy, and you're in my apartment." She paused; then after a moment added, "In Los Angeles, California," for some reason having the feeling that the girl mightn't have known what city or state she was in…maybe it had something to do with the fact she was dropped from a mysterious light (note sarcasm).

"Wh-what am I doing here?"

"I was hoping you could tell me." Buffy kept her voice soft and gentle, so as not to scare her.

"I – " she began; then her eyes grew wide with panic. "I don't remember!"

"It's ok!" Buffy said hurriedly, trying to stem the possible panic attack to follow. "I am not surprised that you don't remember how you got here because of how you arrived."

"No!" She cried. "I don't remember _anything_! I can't remember how I got here, my family…who I _am_!" The last part came out in a choked sob.

'Oh, boy…' Buffy thought. "It's ok. It's ok. Take deep breaths. Calm down," she soothed, rubbing a hand along the girl's arm. "Now you don't remember anything?" She shook her head. "Where you're from, your family, your name?"

The girl shook her head to the first two, but at the third her face became thoughtful. "My name…" she said faintly, suddenly focusing on a spot on the floor in front of her. "My name…"

Buffy waited patiently as the girl thought, though after several minutes she was beginning to think that maybe she wouldn't be able to answer that either.

"Kathryn." Her voice was soft. She looked back up at Buffy. "Kathryn," she repeated, more surely. "My name is Kathryn Magdalene O'Roark."

8

So…Anyone interested?

Feedback is greatly appreciated. Praise and constructive criticism only please, the only purpose flames serve is for my own pyrotechnic tendancies.


	2. Chapter 1

YAY! I got reviews! That gives me a big happy:D

Here is Chapter 1; I throw quite a bit at you in this chapter; I hope, it's still ok though!

8

Buffy watched the young woman as she slept beneath the covers of her bed. The blond had given her a tank top and a pair of pajama pants to sleep in. She had then helped the girl into her bed, where it took her several minutes to fall asleep. Buffy was now contemplating what they had discovered from their discussion they had had before Kathryn, or Kathy as apparently she preferred to be called, had gone to sleep. The girl seemed to have the general knowledge that most teens around her age should have, which they found to be 14, however she had no memory of her personal history, where she was from, who her family was, who she was; aside from her name she knew nothing.

Buffy sat in her chair continuing to watch her, running over in her mind what she would need to do. Tomorrow was her day off and she was going to need to take Kathy to get the basic essentials, underwear, toothbrush, maybe a pair of jeans and sneakers, for the most part they could share clothes since they were so close in size; Kathy was only slightly smaller than Buffy.

Normally Buffy would have taken Kathy to the police, but she didn't think telling them that the brunette had fallen into her room from a light would be well met. She also had a gut feeling that going to them would be pointless anyway.

Buffy glanced at her watch and groaned, it was extremely good that she didn't have work the next day due to the ridiculously late/early hour. She climbed into bed next to the young girl, listening to her soft breaths as she slowly drifted off.

8

Two days later Buffy had just gotten off work and was letting herself into the apartment. Inside every horizontal surface was covered with paper. She bent down and picked a sheet up; finding that it was one from the pad she had bought for Kathy to use to preoccupy herself while Buffy was at work; it was covered with writing about, what appeared to be, the American Revolution. She looked up again; sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, elbows on knees and head in hands was he new roommate.

Buffy set aside the paper she had been holding and closed the door. "Kathy?" She kept her voice soft and gentle.

"How is it," the younger girl's voice quavered, "that I can remember all of history, both normal and paranormal, but I can't remember my own history?" She lifted her head out of her hands and stared at the writings that surrounded her. "Who I am, where I come from, who my family is…" She looked up at Buffy as the older girl came and crouched down beside her. Kathy's eyes were filled with tears of frustration, despair, anger, and pain. "Buffy, who am I?" she pleaded. "Why am I here?"

Buffy swallowed back her own tears at the girl's plea. She reached up and began to gently run her fingers through Kathy's long, curly, brown locks. "You are here because you need to be here, why here precisely, I'm not sure yet. But," she looked directly into the other girl's eyes, "I do know that you are Kathryn Magdalene O'Roark, you are more commonly called Kathy, and," her gaze became even more intense, "you are who you make yourself. Who you were doesn't matter _nearly_ as much as whom you become." She gently ran her right hand down the side of Kathy's face; then gently pulled her toward her and kissed the girl's forehead. Kathy wrapped her arms around Buffy's waist, resting her head over the older girl's heart, crying softly.

8

It was three days later when Buffy arrived in the apartment to find Kathy sitting on the fire escape, watching people. She dropped her jacket and purse on the bed; then climbed out the window to join the brunette.

They sat in silence for a moment until finally Kathy broke it.

"It's not normal to be able to see people's…auras…is it?"

Buffy looked at her in surprise. "Why do you ask that?"

Kathy didn't look away from the people on the street. "Because when I look at people, I don't just see what they look like on the outside, to me they appear to be surrounded by a sort of glowing, haze of color." She finally looked at the blond. "I can tell what people are feeling from it, or if they are lying, if they are good or not, their personality, and other things. I kinda think of it as their aura."

Buffy was staring at her with her mouth hanging open.

Kathy's own expression remained passive, studying Buffy's expression. Finally she looked back at the street below.

"Yup." She watched people go by. "That's not normal."

8

About a week later that Buffy was sitting at the kitchen table, which was about the size of a postage stamp, working out their budget. She and Kathy barely ate anything, but between the rent and the meager amount of food they ate she quickly found that they were going to run into trouble. She rested her forehead in her hand.

"Buffy?"

Her head jerked up at Kathy's soft voice. "Yeah?"

The younger girl was looking at her worriedly. "What's wrong?"

Buffy opened her mouth to deny that there were any problems.

"I know something's wrong; please don't deny it."

Buffy was a little surprised by the usually timid girl's insistence. Buffy looked at her for a few moments before sighing and looking back down at her notes. "The cliff notes version: money. Or more appropriately the lack there of."

"It's costing you too much money with me here," Kathy uttered.

Buffy immediately rose and went over to her. "This isn't your fault, Kathy." She took the brunette's hand. "I just need to figure out a way to either get more money or save more." She looked back at the table.

Kathy bit her lip. "I – I could…work."

Buffy's attention snapped back to her. "Kathy –"

"I _should_ work," the smaller girl rushed on, drawing herself up to her full height, which was a good 3 to 4 inches shorter than the blond. "I _want_ to work. I want to do something. A-and it's probably the best choice."

It was Buffy's turn to bite her own lip. She knew that what Kathy said was true; it _was_ the easiest way for them to get the money they needed. She took a deep breath and looked Kathy in the eyes. "Are you sure?"

Kathy nodded her head resolutely. "I need to go into the world; I can't hide from it any more."

8

Thank you to:

X-identaty

mystjade

Carol

Emily

chosengal2000

InvisibleA

Again thank you for reviewing! Please continue to! It really encourages me!

Angel definitely comes into play later, and it indeed does get interesting, to say the least.


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